Fioritura

In music, fioritura (/fiˌɔːrɪˈtjʊərə/ fee-OR-i-TURE-ə, Italian: [fjoriˈtuːra], meaning "flourish" or "flowering"; plural fioriture) is the florid embellishment of melodic lines, either notated by a composer or improvised during a performance. It usually involves lengthy, complex embellishments, as opposed to standardized local ornamental figures such as trills, mordents, or appoggiaturas, and its use is documented as early as the thirteenth century.^[1][2] The alternative term coloratura is less accurate.^[3] It is closely related to the sixteenth-century practice of diminution or division.^[4]

An extreme example of fioritura from Chopin's Nocturne in D♭ major (Play^ⓘ)

References

1. Da Costa 2002.
2. Jander 2001.
3. Steane 1992.
4. Randel 2003.

Sources

• Da Costa, Neal Peres. 2002. "Fioritura". The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866212-9.
• Jander, Owen. 2001. "Fioritura". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Randel, Don Michael. 2003. "Fioritura". The Harvard Dictionary of Music, fourth edition. Harvard University Press Reference Library 16. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01163-2.
• Steane, J. B. 1992. "Fioritura". The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. 2 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

• Virginia Opera glossary